This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Ha'aretz and Yediot led with the security forces' 
preparedness ahead of the evacuation of settlements. 
While Ha'aretz focuses on the IDF, which the newspaper 
says is beginning to "mentally prepare" soldiers for 
the pullout, Yediot details possible scenarios raised 
by the police.  Maariv reported that the IDF has 
started practicing for the demolition of settlers' 
houses.  Israel Radio listed 10 Knesset members from 
"almost all parties," who have received threats on 
their lives, and reported that some of them have been 
granted protection. 
 
Jerusalem Post's lead story: Under increasing local and 
foreign pressure, the pro-Syrian Lebanese government 
signaled Wednesday it may quit, while a group of Syrian 
intellectuals protested in downtown Damascus. 
 
Israel Radio highlighted President Bush's meeting with 
Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is scheduled to 
take place today in Bratislava and focus on the 
prevention of nuclear terrorism. 
 
Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel Radio this 
morning that PM Sharon provided him with "weighty 
arguments" why he should not be sent to the upcoming 
London summit on the bolstering of the PA.  All media 
had reported that the two men disagreed on the matter. 
Peres said that the U.S. may have been among the 
international elements that recommended that Israel 
attend the meeting.  Ha'aretz cited a version according 
to which Sharon told Peres that the U.S. administration 
believes that Israel does not have to take part in the 
summit.  The media say that Sharon has strongly 
objected to Israel's presence at the summit for fear it 
would be transformed into an international peace 
conference that would try to coerce Israel into 
positions it does not accept. 
 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that talks between 
Israel and the PA on the handing over of security 
responsibility for the West Bank cities to the PA have 
run aground, but that the territories remain quiet 
nevertheless.  Israel Radio quoted FM Silvan Shalom as 
saying in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) 
that on Monday security forces thwarted a terrorist 
attack and captured both would-be perpetrators. 
Jerusalem Post reported that Sayyed Rasas, of the 
Maghazi refugee camp, who was accused of 
"collaboration" with Israel, was sentenced to life 
imprisonment with hard labor by a PA court in the Gaza 
Strip on Wednesday. 
Israel Radio quoted Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu el-Gheit as 
saying Wednesday that Egypt is prepared to position 750 
troops along the Philadelphi route to prevents arms 
smuggling, but not before the IDF leaves the area. 
 
Ha'aretz cited official estimates according to which 
some 300 of the 1,700 families living in the Katif Bloc 
and northern West Bank have been in touch with the 
Disengagement Administration or attorneys in order to 
examine the option of leaving their respective 
settlements voluntarily. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that the Council of Rabbis of 
Jewish Settlements in the Territories is distributing a 
religious opinion according to which the disengagement 
move entails 14 "biblical sins."  The opinion was 
authored by Rabbi Shaul Bar-Illan, head of the Kfar 
Darom kollel (yeshiva for married men) in the Gaza 
Strip.  Leading media reported that Rabbi Shlomo 
Aviner, who heads the nationalist Ateret Cohanim 
yeshiva, sparked a disagreement in the pro-settler 
movement when he told leading Internet site Ynet: "On 
evacuation day, people should get up and leave their 
homes without using force."  All media reported that on 
Wednesday, Knesset members Effi Eitam and Rabbi Yitzhak 
Levy announced they were leaving the National Religious 
Party (NRP) and forming a new faction, "Religious 
Zionism," that would work in tandem with National 
Union.  The NRP now includes only four MKs. 
 
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was quoted 
as saying in an interview conducted with Ha'aretz on 
Wednesday that NATO would consider stationing 
peacekeeping troops here to facilitate the peace treaty 
only if an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty were 
signed, both sides requested a NATO presence, and the 
UN Security Council endorsed the request. 
 
Leading media cited the State Prosecution as saying 
Wednesday that the ruling last year by the 
International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the separation 
fence between Israel and the Palestinians was based on 
erroneous and outdated information.  The prosecution 
said that the court almost totally ignored the terror 
attacks that made it imperative to set up the fence, 
the considerations that led to planning its route, and 
the state's duty to protect its citizens. 
 
Several media reported that on Wednesday, Fatah 
approved the composition of Ahmed Qurei's new 
government, and that the Palestinian Legislative 
Council (PLC) will vote on the matter today. 
 
All media reported that MK Michael Eitan (Likud), the 
Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Justice and Law 
Committee, rejected a unanimous ruling reached 
Wednesday by the High Court of Justice, according to 
which the decision by the Knesset's House Committee not 
to lift the immunity of Likud MK Michael Gorlovsky is 
invalid because it is illegal.  Gorlovsky has admitted 
to voting twice in the plenum on the economic emergency 
plan in May 2003.  The media say that Sharon's son MK 
Omri Sharon could face a similar situation.  Leading 
commentators also foresee a constitutional crisis. 
 
Maariv reported that Jordan's King Abdullah II has 
invited the Israeli-Arab Knesset members for a get-to- 
know-you visit on Sunday. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported on the 
positive welcome Deputy Education Minister Rabbi 
Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad) is receiving in Doha, 
Qatar.  Melchior is in Qatar to tour educational 
institutions and participate in a public debate on the 
future of Middle East peace.  He was invited to the 
emirate by Qatari Foundation head Sheikha Moza Bint 
Nasser Al-Misnad, who is the wife of the Emir of Qatar, 
Sheikh Hamas Bin Khalifa al-Thani.  Melchior's visit 
was organized by Tim Sebastian, the veteran host of the 
BBC-TV show Hard Talk. 
 
Maariv reported that Tanzim activist Jihad Jaara, who 
was expelled to Ireland during Operation Defensive 
Shield, continued to direct terrorist operations from 
that country, through a Hizbullah agent, former Israeli 
Arab Kais Obeid.  Maariv quoted Mohammed Bakri, the 
director of the controversial documentary "Jenin, 
Jenin," which describes the IDF's Operation Defensive 
Shield in the West Bank city, as saying Wednesday that 
the editing of certain scenes in his film was flawed. 
 
In an interview with talk-show and comedian Eli Yatzpan 
broadcast last night on cable TV's Channel 3, PM Sharon 
said that France favored the Arab states, and 
criticized its refusal to condemn Hizbullah as a 
terrorist organization. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "The question Sharon must ask himself 
is whether the time has not arrived to disengage from 
the 'rebels.'  After U.S. President George W. Bush's 
speech in Brussels ... we can forget about interim 
arrangements." 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "We must not make light of what the religious 
Zionist movement is now undergoing.... [Furthermore,] 
if disengagement is carried out, the question of 
[Israel's] identity and agenda will also be placed on 
the table of all the other sectors of society." 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "The law preventing Palestinians from 
becoming Israeli citizens should be viewed as the 
framework for mutual bilateral agreements that are yet 
to be concluded.  This would be the practical 
interpretation of Bush's 'two-state' vision." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Disengage From the 'Rebels'" 
 
Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (February 24): "The question Sharon 
must ask himself is whether the time has not arrived to 
disengage from the 'rebels.'  After U.S. President 
George W. Bush's speech in Brussels, the formaldehyde 
has evaporated, the 'cantons plan' has become obsolete, 
and we can forget about interim arrangements.  After 
the disengagement, the road map will be put on the 
negotiation table along with the continuation of the 
evacuation of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], 
negotiations that Sharon cannot successfully conduct 
with the millstone of the Likud Central Committee and 
the 'rebels' around his neck.  Would it not be better 
to spring forward with the unavoidable surgery in the 
Likud, and seriously consider the Shinui offer to set 
up a rescue government -- Likud (with its right wing in 
the opposition), Labor and Shinui, while ignoring the 
paralyzing center?  The support of Yahad would 
facilitate the implementation of the government's tasks 
in the diplomatic arena and the functioning of the 
government until the end of its term in November 2006. 
Disengage from them now, Sharon." 
 
II.  "Towards the Crisis" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (February 24): "We must not make light of what 
the religious Zionist movement is now undergoing.  As 
the days pass, the mechanisms take their course, and 
the day of the implementation of the disengagement plan 
approaches -- and fewer and fewer people remain in this 
camp who believe that a miracle will indeed happen to 
them, and the plan will not be carried out.... Now this 
camp is facing with full force the recognition that it 
is a minority and can no longer dictate the agenda. 
This is a great crisis, which brings many important 
figures within it to speak of the danger of conceptual 
disengagement from the State of Israel, to say that 
those who are no longer considered an elite will have 
difficulty continuing to serve.  These statements are 
an expression of pain and harsh disillusionment, which 
must not be treated callously.  But the discussion, 
ultimately, will not remain within the religious 
Zionist movement alone.  If disengagement is carried 
out, the question of the identity and agenda will also 
be placed on the table of all the other sectors of 
society.  After the big bang of the withdrawal and 
uprooting thousands from their homes -- without a 
signed agreement, without the 'end of the conflict' 
even on paper -- we will all have to give ourselves an 
answer to the question of what we are doing here.  The 
answer will have to be a better one than 'fighting the 
Arabs and hoping that tomorrow peace will come.'" 
 
III.  "Two Citizenships for Two Nations" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (February 24): "Both Israel's High Court of 
Justice and its new Interior Minister Ophir Pines feel 
embarrassed and powerless when dealing with the July 
2003 amendment to the Citizenship Law stipulating that 
Palestinians cannot become Israeli citizens, thus 
curbing a painful demographic flood caused by the 
marriage of Palestinians to Israeli citizens.... This 
is no longer true.... It would be logical for [the 
future Palestinian] state to aspire not to have Jewish 
citizens; then again, religious or ultra-Orthodox Jews 
would prefer to stay near the tombs of the patriarchs, 
to receive Palestinian citizenship, and create some 
sort of threat on the Palestinian state by their very 
reproduction.  Should this happen, the Palestinian 
state would be interested in foiling this phenomenon. 
Therefore, there would be a point to signing a 
legislation deal with that state -- through two 
parallel laws on both sides -- that would prevent the 
citizens of one single country from becoming citizens 
of the neighboring state.  In other words, the law 
preventing Palestinians from becoming Israeli citizens 
should be viewed as the framework for mutual bilateral 
agreements that are yet to be concluded.  This would be 
the practical interpretation of Bush's 'two-state' 
vision.  Any contrary solution could give birth in the 
future to a new, evidently unwelcome, demographic and 
security explosion.... Those would be mirror laws 
meeting the interests of both sides -- they would 
therefore also be welcomed by the world." 
 
KURTZER